Basketball Game Preview: Washburn Rural Blues vs. Junction City Bluejays

The Washburn Rural Blues will venture away from home to square off against the Junction City Bluejays at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Washburn Rural is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 58.1 points per game this season.

Last Tuesday, everything came up roses for Washburn Rural against Manhattan as the squad secured a 74-45 win. The Blues have beaten the Indians the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Indians has come to flipping the script.

John Hoytal

Points (Career)

02/11/25 vs Manhattan	18
02/13/24 @ Topeka	16
12/12/24 @ St. James Academy	15
01/19/24 vs Willard	15
02/28/24 @ Southeast	14

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Washburn Rural to victory, but perhaps none more so than John Hoytal, who went 6-for-8 en route to 18 points. The dominant performance gave Hoytal a new career-high in points. Simon Rowley was another key player, going 6-for-10 to rack up 14 points and seven rebounds.

Washburn Rural was working as a unit and finished the game with 24 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Junction City ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged Emporia out 69-66. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Bluejays have posted since February 20, 2024.

Washburn Rural pushed their record up to 11-4 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 36.1% in those games and 27.2% outside of them. As for Junction City, their record now sits at 10-5.

Washburn Rural skirted past Junction City 59-56 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. The rematch might be a little tougher for Washburn Rural since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.